Z Car Garage is excited to participate in the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion August 23-26 at Laguna Seca. We will be driving and supporting several vintage race cars, including this special 1979 Datsun 280zx raced by Jim Fitzgerald. “Fitzy” is the winningest driver in SCCA history with an astounding 350+ wins in his career.

  

He was never afraid to trade paint to get the win: in 1980 at the C Production Runoffs at Road Atlanta he was seen slamming doors with Freddie Baker in his E-Type on the front straight, on the pace lap! Video of the action can be seen in this HERE. Following this race, the ZX became known as the “Designated Hitter” car.  Fitzgerald died in 1987 after crashing his 300zx Turbo in the Trans Am series race.

 

  

Comedian/Paul Newman fan Adam Carolla purchased the ZX in 2009, and put it up for sale with our friends at Bring A Trailer last July. Our customer Alex McDowell won the auction and Rob and I visited Adam’s shop in Los Angeles to pick up the car. The Fitzy car was awesome to see in person, from the livery to wide Panasports it got my heart racing. We loaded it up onto a trailer courtesy of expert Datsun-restorer/historian Les Cannaday:

 

  

Before leaving, Adam’s crew was kind enough to let us peruse his car collection.

 

This place just might be Xanadu for Datsun nuts:

  

Adam is a big Paul Newman fan and it shows! Bonus points for a poster showing our #49 IMSA GTU 240z RMMR!

 

The ZX arrived safely at Z Car Garage (thanks Les) :

 

 

Fast forward to 2018, the Jim Fitzgerald 280ZX gained acceptance to race at the RMMR with Alex McDowell behind the wheel! ZCG began race preparation.

  

Rob dyno-tuned the L-series beast and it sounds fantastic. See the dyno and unloading in this video below:

 

We will have another feature for each of the race cars running at the Historics! Don’t forget to purchase your tickets for Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion 8/23! Enjoy more pictures in the gallery below:
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Jose N is the owner/operator of JB Mobile Detailing and he has been detailing ZCG’s fleet for many years. One of the reasons why he’s our detailer is because he is a Nissan/Datsun enthusiast. This is Jose’s turbocharged 260z running a fuel-injected 3 liter L-series backed by a 240sx 5-speed, R200 rear end, full suspension and 3-pc Panasport C8 wheels…but what was he lacking?

He had a Porsche 993 Turbo brake-kit installed over a decade ago at Scott Performance in Santa Clara. Although this kit worked well, it required a master cylinder change:

 

This was common with many big-brake kits on the market: a host of custom pieces, aftermarket proportioning valves, items needing infinite adjustment, and no parking brake.  That’s where ZCG Big-Brakes for small wheels come in:

  

We replaced Jose’s 993TT brakes with the ZCG Big-Brakes and parking brake option:

   

We also installed a set of ZCG CV axles.

 

The CV axle installation is straightforward, Jose’s existing CV axles were replaced with ZCG units L and R:

   

Jose is Enjoying The Ride with the ultimate brakes and CV axles on his boosted Z!  You can see more ZCG customer cars running our Big-Brakes and CV axles below:

ZCG Big-Brakes for small wheels

Erich C

 
Glenn C

Sam C

  

Z Car Garage CV Axles

Randy Jaffe’s #46 BRE Datsun 240z

 

Frank B

  

The Bluebird SSS Coupe and Hakosuka Skyline are both running ZCG CV axles on the race track:

   

Race car driver and restoration specialist Jim Froula of Racecraft is running ZCG axles in several of his cars:

Set #246 – installed May 2018 on the “Harry Stewart #52” Datsun 510:

  

Set #247 – installed April 2018 on the 260z

  

Gary’s 430whp LS3-powered 280z:

  

Scott W’s EFI stroker L-series:

  

James S’ L28ET:

  

Finally, Gary’s “Behemoth”  OS Giken TC24B1Z powered S30:

Interested in a set of ZCG Big-Brakes or CV Axles? Contact Rob at the shop or send him an e-mail robATzcargarage.com

 

When we last saw Erich C he visited Z Car Garage for some sorting on his 1973 Datsun 240z, reported in our blog post here. The Z was fresh from a restoration by fellow racer and Datsun 510 specialist Troy Ermish, sporting a Rebello 3L with triple Mikuni carbs and many hot rod parts:

 

  

Erich’s Z made an impressive 261hp to the wheels on our dyno and he felt the need to have brakes to match that power. We recently installed our ZCG Big-Brakes for small wheels on Glenn’s Fairlady and his review was positive:

“WOW, what a difference. The feel, modulation, power, sharpness was amazing. Hands down the best brakes I had ever driven on a Z car”

As Glenn mentioned in his review, on top of braking performance, pedal feel is extremely important and our Big-Brakes deliver. This is a direct result of working with Stoptech to create a totally bolt-in solution requiring no M/C change or additional proportioning valve/adjustments, etc. After Erich drove Glenn’s Fairlady with the Big-Brakes, he was a believer. Erich returned to ZCG to have the brake kit installed on his S30.

 

The existing new Wilwood brake setup was removed and replaced with the ZCG Big-Brake kit at all 4 corners.

Up front:

 

Rear:

  

Erich was really stoked about the parking brake assembly, and now he has a fully functioning parking brake, utilizing the factory hand brake lever and linkage. This was another key request for our customers when creating the Big-Brakes.

 

  

A few more detail shots of the brakes:

 

 

And of course, the brakes fit easily under Erich’s sexy 15×8 zero offset Watanabe wheels:

 

For great stopping power, feel and bolt-in convenience, look no further than ZCG Big-Brakes for small wheels! Stay tuned as we bring you more Z’s getting the kit installed, joining our customers Frank, Sam, and Glenn. Erich is really happy with the brakes and we loved working on his Z, Enjoy The Ride!

“Great Drives” is a new Zcarblog series highlighting scenic routes and destinations we have enjoyed from the past and present. Whether it is a nice cruise or thrilling adventure, we hope to inspire Bay Area vintage car owners to Enjoy The Ride! Have a great drive of your own that you want to share? Feel free to contact us on Facebook, Instagram or by e-mail.

 

Pescadero Beach, 7/8/18

Starting from San Jose, there are several fun routes reaching Pescadero State Beach.  Sunday’s Fun Run was organized by fellow Datsun owners, beginning in Downtown Saratoga heading up to Skyline via HWY9.

 

We had 11 cars in the group and joining us as Guest of Honor was Josh Martin, star of the successful Utah-based JDM Legends TV show.

Three Datsun Roadsters: my 67.5, Aidan’s ’69 SRL and Stacey’s 1970 SRL:

 

Three S30s: Dirk’s silver ’73, Andrew’s ’77 280z and Brian’s ’72:

 

Brian’s S30 was freshly restored, sporting a Rebello 3L, our ZCG Big-Brakes for small wheels and
ZCG CV Axles. Full report on his Z including dyno results soon!

  

Representing the finest from Nissan in the 90’s was Josh in the ZCG 300zx Twin Turbo and Naveed in his splendid 1991 Nissan R32 Skyline GT-R:

 

Our friend Matt drove his F2oC-powered Datsun 510 and we also had this STi(Tim) and 911 (JR) come along:

   

The blast up HWy 9 to the 35 junction was fun. After a brief photo-op at Sempervirens lookout we headed to Alice’s Restaurant at the 84/35 junction.

  

Alice’s was quite busy and the car show there was impressive.

  

BMWCCA was holding an event/rallye so parking was a challenge. I spotted this clean, Kouki S14:

 

From Alice’s I led the group down 84 towards the coast. This was my favorite part of the drive. We were blessed with zero traffic and an opportunity to open up the throttle and enjoy the turns. Linking each apex one after another was addicting, like the esses at Buttonwillow. Brake dust was wafting in the air from running hard!

  

Instead of taking 1 South we turned left onto Stage Rd (a route I learned from Glenn Chiou). Stage was bumpy but the reward was a nice, eucalyptus-lined stretch in farmland. Another photo-op session and my first time seeing Naveeds’s R32 in person to study the details. It’s the perfect amount of JDM style with the re-barreled Nismo wheels and subtly aero from Top Secret:

 

Sensing the mass of cars from the BMWCCA rallye headed our way we promptly headed into town and reached our destination at Pescadero Beach:

  

Here’s a short video of the Fun Run, turn up those speakers!

Weather at the coast was perfect and we departed via 1 and back up 84 for lunch at Alice’s. Again, 84 was clear and we Enjoyed The Ride:

 

 

Thanks to the organizers everyone had a blast! It was also nice to give Josh a sample of our beautiful driving roads here in the Bay Area. Stay tuned for the next Great Drives feature and enjoy more pictures in the gallery below!
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“Great Drives” is a new Zcarblog series highlighting scenic routes and destinations we have enjoyed from the past and present. Whether it is a nice cruise or thrilling adventure, we hope to inspire Bay Area vintage car owners to Enjoy The Ride! Have a great drive of your own that you want to share? Feel free to contact us on Facebook, Instagram or by e-mail.

 

Mt. Umunhum, San Jose 7/1/18

Growing up in the Bay Area I have always been fascinated with Mt. Umunhum. Dominating the peak is an 84-foot tall radar tower built to watch over the nation’s airspace during the Cold War. Decommissioned and closed off to the public since 1980, last year this former Air Force station was converted into a place where you can view the Santa Clara Valley from 3,486 feet.

 

Mount Umunhum is the fourth-highest peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains just south of San Jose and can be reached by the new five-mile Mount Umunhum Road which is off Hicks Road in Los Gatos. The road is freshly paved and filled with a mix of hairpins and blind corners. Elevation gain is impressive with 2000ft+ over 4 miles.

 

Enjoy this short video of the drive up to Mt. Umunhum:

 

At the summit we had a 360-degree view from the Pacific to the Sierra Nevada.  The sunset was spectacular and I just had to bring my family back again the following day to share the experience.

 

Though it is only a few miles from our home, the drive to Mt. Umunhum is exhilarating and the summit well worth the climb. If you are driving your vintage car make sure the cooling and braking systems are up to the task!

 

Interested in the history of Mt. Umunhum? Watch the video below:

Stay tuned for the next Great Drives feature and enjoy more pictures in the gallery below!
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